Yeah, here. I think it's a good compromise. I'm all for bricking non-genuine installations, but the process to determine wether or not a system is non-genuine isn't watertight, and prone to slip-ups like a few
months ago. Disabling genuine users is unacceptable, so this is a nice in-between.

This just happened to me over the past few days. The 2nd installs (laptops) of Vista Ult - started nagging ... reduced functionality... 5 ways to activate... (*even though they were activated at install)

then on the 3d day or so they switched over to useless mode: browser to ms.com only...

I noticed that they have an automated activator now = no real person to talk to.. so I typed in the gazillion numbers listening to a robot ... and guess what - it didnt work..

Luckily the system realized this and put me in touch with a person.

I said - hi i have the ultimate version - and i loaded on laptop as well - she said one minute ... 16273738489506060694837293

and ta da.. now it works

So... YOU CAN load vista ult on more than one machine - within reason... but they are doing there best to make it hard and a pain in the butt

I was inches from wiping all 4 machines and going back to xp - just because I could work without fear of waking up to a brick every morning.

So Vista lives on... we'll see if this magically .. comes back - as it seems to like to use my bandwidth to chat to other servers

lastly - if they are indeed removing this bad vibe generator... well...

"[Microsoft corporate vice president Mike Sievert] added: "It's worth re-emphasizing that our fundamental strategy has not changed. All copies of Windows Vista still require activation and the system will continue to validate from
time to time to verify that systems are activated properly."

the red part is what i cannot stand. You load windows - you type the key... then you activate...then you validate... and youre done!

no more worrying about this crap...oops - see above... it is going to check over and over.. leaving you with the issue of never knowing when the other shoe will drop

"[Microsoft corporate vice president Mike Sievert] added: "It's worth re-emphasizing that our fundamental strategy has not changed. All copies of Windows Vista still require activation and the system will continue to validate from
time to time to verify that systems are activated properly."

I wonder what he means, there. Will Windows actually call home occasionally to check validity, or does this mean "If you download IE8, it'll check if you're using a valid installation"?

No, it's checking to see if its been activated from another machine right? When you activate I imagine it keeps the activation signature, and checks every so often to see if your current machines signature matches the online one?

Does Windows have short term memory loss? Why can't it remember that is has already been validated?

The scenario re-activation is targetted at is this one:

Day 1: Pirated key is released on internet, people install cracked version, it activates fine.

Day 2: Microsoft block key as known pirated serial

Day 3: Windows re-activates and those who had been using the pirated key are now told they are non-genuine.

If you've installed with a legit key then you're not likely to ever be affected by this, as it's really only volume keys that are going to be targetted (which, as a home user, you obviously aren't using). The ones who do have to worry are corporates who can't
keep their own keys under control and KMS goes a long way to sorting that one out.

Microsoft says the new notifications will lead to online “get legal” offers comparable to those for XP:

Windows Vista Home Basic, $89

Windows Vista Home Premium, $119

Windows Vista Business, $145

Windows Vista Ultimate, $199

Ironically, those prices are significantly better than the retail prices that you’ll find from legitimate Windows resellers. In theory, at least, a consumer could install a copy of Windows Vista without a product key, refuse to activate the system for 30
days, and then purchase a perfectly legal license at a discount using Microsoft’s online offer.

Not only that, but you could VoIP in from anywhere in the world and say you live in Ohio.....